tags: Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, photographed in Monterey, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This bird of the north Pacific Ocean has very distinctive feet, but is very similar to a close relative: can you identify both species and tell me how to distinguish between them?
The Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba, is a medium-sized alcid endemic to the Pacific. They closely resemble the other members of the genus Cepphus, particularly the Black Guillemot, which is slightly smaller. Pigeon Guillemot are also distinguishable by range (Pacific coast of North America).
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Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin? They're easy to tell apart if you can see the head, but I'm not sure on this picture. I'd guess Tufted, because the Horned has a white feathers belly and legs, and I think I'd be able to see more white.
None of the pictures of puffins I have shows the white on the wings, though, so I could be completely wrong.
I'm going to go with Black Guillemot - red legs, black body, large white patch on wings, right locale (California coast). If it were the Pigeon Guillemot I'd think you would be able to see some of the white underneath and the wings would be paler underneath.
It's a Pigeon Guillemot, the only species of its genus ever recorded from California. You can see the black bar in the white wing-patch on the left wing, which rules out Black Guillemot. The underwing of Black Guillemot is white, while the underwing of Pigeon Guillemot is dark.
I have no idea what it is that crashed.
Reading the above posts, I looked in my books--only Sibley showed (and emphasized) the red feet-- I confess I've seen lots of guillemots but never have seen their feet!